Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Edward Connor was transported on the Albuera, departing 6th Sep 1858 and arriving 28th Oct 1858 with 11 passengers.
Albuera, launched at Moulmain (British Burma) in 1854, made three voyages to Adelaide up to 1874. Sailing from Calcutta, India, on 6 Sep, 1858, she arrived at Fremantle with 11 military convicts on 28 Oct. They were all convicted by Courts Martial (in India and Burma) and sentenced to transportation. Note: Albuera is not to be confused with other ships of the same name or those spelled Albeura.
Albuera (generic)References
| Primary Source | https://www.perthdps.com/convicts/con-wa24.html; Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 4679-5166 (R1) |
Claims
No one has claimed Edward Connor yet.
Photos
No photos have been added for Edward Connor.
Convict Notes
OFF TO CALCUTTA or TO SYDNEY?: 1869, 4 November: The Merchantman, for India, with Edwards Connor aboard, and “a cargo of horses”, sailed from Champion Bay (The Inquirer and Commercial News, Wed 10 Nov, 1869, p2, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66033664). -- “Geraldton... The Merchantman will have finished her shipment of horses and other stock today, and is expected to sail tomorrow. The mode of shipping this year is a vast improvement on that of former years. The horses were then swam [sic] off a distance of a mile, which must have greatly injured them; now they are led down to the jetty and taken off by boat in lots of about 10 at a time.” (The Inquirer and Commercial News, Wed 10 Nov, 1869, p3, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66033661). -- “The Merchantman sailed for Calcutta on the 1st instant, with 120 horses, 20 cows, and a number of dogs; the horses were undoubtedly the finest lot yet sent away from this district, and it is to be hoped will meet with a good market.” (The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times, Fri 19 Nov 1869, p2, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3754287) -- “We have published, and propose to continue the subject, in a series of articles on convictism, pointing out the glaring defects in the treatment of the dangerous classes in our Convict Establishment. It is no use deceiving ourselves, that they are not dangerous, with this fact before us, that since 1851, 10,000 Imperial Convicts have been imported independant [sic] of colonial prisoners. Comparatively few have left the colony. The Merchantman, said by the South Australians to have carried away 200, took but 8, 5 of those of the intelligent class. The deaths are below the average on adults. Including 1500 now undergoing probation, there are at least 8000 in the colony. They constitute a great majority of the male adults in a population so limited as ours (24,000), yet no steps are taken to fit them for absorption into the general community. Under the barbarous regime of Governor Hampton, they proved refractory and unmanageable; under the present lax system of discipline, they are idle and useless -- and so long as they are civil, and all professed thieves are so -- do about as much work in a month as a free man would do in a day...” (The Herald (Fremantle), Sat 4 Dec 1869, p3, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106236450) -- “... based upon the report of Mr. Willoughby, the correspondent of the Argus, ‘that shoals of convicts left the colony, and that the Merchantman took a full cargo of them to Sydney’, the facts are that of 8000 released convicts not more than 300 have left the colony, and that the Merchantman took but eight, four of them with a large amount of savings...” (The Herald (Fremantle, 9 April 1870, p2, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106235163) -- “The European Mails arrived in Perth at half-past five yesterday morning ... From Calcutta we learn that the Merchantman had arrived, after a splendid passage, and without a single casualty amongst the horse stock.” (The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth), Wed 19 Jan., 1870, p3, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66033193). Note: The Perth Gazette (21 Jan, p3) reported that two cows and two horses belonging to Messrs Brown died on the voyage. --00--
OTHER RECORDS – 2: Connor, Edward (1827- ) 5052 1856-10-28 Albuera CWA: Unmarried; weaver; Protestant; conv Rangoon 1857; Crt Martial desertion 14 yrs; Champion Bay, Toodyay, York, Swan, Murray; labourer. BDWA: CONNOR, Edward, b. 1827, (expiree). Arr. 1858 per Albuera. Dep. 3.11.1869 per Merchantman for Calcutta. (https://www.toodyay.wa.gov.au/documents/234/convicts-associated-with-toodyay-as-at-30-sep-2020) --00--
OTHER RECORDS – 1: Birth He was born in 1827 Convicted Convicted of desertion & escape (Court Martial) and sentenced to 14 years on 7 July 1857 at Rangoon, Burma. Occupation Recorded as a soldier; labourer on 28 October 1858. Physical Desc. Recorded with the physical attributes: Pockmarked, D on left side, flower right arm, several blue marks left arm, ring 3rd finger left hand. Family Status Claimed that his marital status was unmarried as at 28 October 1858 Transported Transported to WA on the Albuera arriving at Fremantle, Western Australia, on 28 October 1858. He had been collected from Calcutta prison. Convict No. Assigned with Convict No. 5052 on 28 October 1858. Ticket of Leave His Ticket of Leave was granted on 29 September 1860 at Western Australia. Conditional Pardon His Conditional Pardon was granted on 25 February 1865 at Western Australia. (https://www.waconvicts.fhwa.org.au/g0/p203.htm#i5052) --00--
From his FREMANTLE JAIL record: CONNOR, Edward; inmate #5052, arrived 28 Oct 1858 per Albeura [sic] Date of Birth: 1827 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Weaver Sentence Date: 1857 Sentence Place: Rangoon Crime: Desertion Sentence Period: 14 years Ticket of Leave Date: 29 Sep 1860 Conditional Pardon Date: 25 Feb 1865 Comments: Labourer (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --00—
BRANDED with a “D”: Up to 1829, any soldier in the British military could be branded, but after that it was reserved for deserters who were “‘branded’ with a D on their left sides as a means of humiliating offenders” (Hilton, 2010, p140 at https://eprints.utas.edu.au/17678/2/Hilton_Thesis.pdf). Hilton doesn’t say how the branding happened and there are conflicting versions among writers. For example, some writers refer to barbaric fire brandings, while others describe painful tattooing using India ink. A post on the Irish Garrison Towns website (http://irishgarrisontowns.com/d-for-deserter/) says both practices were used – hot iron/fire branding being the preferred method until around the mid-19th century when it was replaced by tattooing: “A new device was created to mark the soldiers’ skin with ink, or even gunpowder… The large, blunt points [on the branding tool] hint at the pain it caused as a spring mechanism forced these points into the skin. Regimental doctors described the practice as ‘cupping’." Simon Barnard’s book “Convict tattoos: Marked men and women of Australia” (p55) has several shots of one of these spring loaded, brass “branding instruments”, manufactured by John Weiss & Sons of The Strand, London. Barnard says they were used by medical officers to tattoo army deserters. The head of the “Weiss’ Invention” model holds 47 needle points arranged in the shape of a “D”, all clearly capable of puncturing human skin. So, too, the points of the brass instrument featured on the Science Museum of London’s website. Made by the major surgical instruments manufacturer of the 18th century, Savigny & Co of London, its adjustable points “still bear traces of ink” and were pushed through the skin by a spring-powered mechanism”. The Museum says branding was abolished in 1829, except for army deserters. The English Mutiny Act of 1858 provided that, in addition to other penalties, a court martial could order that a deserter be marked with the letter D on the left side, 2 inches (5.1 cm) under the armpit, with such letter to be more than 1 inch long. From 1829, the mark was tattooed on the body until the practice was abandoned altogether in 1879 (https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co155799/branding-tool-for-marking-deserters-london-england-1810-1850-branding-tool). --00--
IN WA: 1858, 28 October: On arrival, EDWARD CONNOR, was listed as convict #5052, 31 years old, single, 5’8 ¼” tall, brown eyes, grey hair, oval visage, sallow complexion, pockmarked and middling stout appearance; [branded] D on left side. A weaver by trade, he had been convicted at a General Court Martial, at Rangoon, in Burma, and sentenced to 14 years’ penal servitude for “desertion and escape” (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 4679-5166 (R1)). Note: Various records give his year of birth as 1827, presumably based on an assumption that he was 31 on arrival in WA. However, the “Convicts to Australia” site says the age quoted on these WA Convict Records “seems to refer to the age of the convict when the passenger list was created”. Thus, he could have been born in 1826. --00--
THE VOYAGE TO WA: One of the few snippets of information found about the Albuera's voyage in 1858 comes from an article in the Melbourne Argus: INDIA (From our Galle [Sri Lanka] correspondent. October 20, 1858): ... The very great mortality which has taken place in the shipment of horses from the different ports of Australia has created no little attention here. The Admiral Boxer, which arrived lately at Bombay from Sydney, landed only 76 out of 108 shipped. This makes the Australian horse too costly for cavalry purposes, and I am bound to say also, that the stamp of horses selected has not come up to what it might and should have been, in the opinion of the best judges, and those who have been in the colonies. The Government have despatched the ALBUERA [my emphasis] with convicts to Swan River, and to return with 120 horses from that colony. The experiment will be watched with much interest. (The Argus, 18 Nov 1858, p5 at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/7304789) --00-- --00--
GENERAL COURT MARTIAL (GCM): This was army’s highest tribunal, dealing with commissioned officers and the most serious cases involving other ranks. It could only be convened by the Crown or its deputy (for example, the commander in chief, or governors general). At least 13 commissioned officers had to be present if ‘at home’ (serving in the British Isles, Ireland, non-British territories or small British possessions), or five if ‘overseas’ (the British colonies), together with a judge advocate. Decisions were confirmed by the person who issued the warrant (that is, the Crown or its direct deputy). (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/courts-martial-desertion-british-army-17th-20th-centuries/) --00--
COURT MARTIAL: 1857, 7 July: Edward Connor appeared before a General Court Martial at Rangoon, Burma, and was sentenced to 14 years’ transportation for “desertion and escape”. Given the severity of sentence, this would not have been his first court martial. At some stage following his conviction, he was sent to Calcutta and held there in jail to await transportation (https://www.perthdps.com/convicts/con-wa24.html; Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 4679-5166 (R1); https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/60668/images/44765_352437-00409, image 410) --00--